Horse The Band

After frontman Nathan Winneke jokingly dubbed his group “Nintendo-core,” Horse The Band’s vortex of contorted roars, metal-core hysterics, esoteric video game references, and crusty 8-bit-style synth became inextricably linked to the nebulous genre. But beneath the impish veneer of the unruly L.A. outfit’s recent Desperate Living lurks some harrowing ruminations on mortality and child abuse—though these are buried in Winneke’s typically dense lyrical abstractions, which move beyond Super Mario Bros.and Marvel comics to further the band’s own considerable mythology. Musically, HTB embraces everything from post-hardcore beatdowns to post-rock atmospheric passages—truly, it’s a “post-everything” band—so it’s not surprising to see fellow iconoclast Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu pop up on “Shapeshift.” 

Updated 12/09/2009